MANCHESTER, Tennessee -- After Paul McCartney finished a wicked version of "Helter
Skelter" – the 1968 Beatles tune which may have been the first heavy-metal song
ever and the first punk track – a fan
in the Bonnaroo crowd gave McCartney a small stuffed-animal.

In the shape of a walrus.Sir Paul smiled and proceeded to place the toy atop his grand piano. (The reference to John Lennon's Beatles track "I Am the Walrus" was probably not lost on him.) And then the 70-year-old superstar started a gorgeous "Abbey Road"
troika with the longing ballad "Golden Slumbers."While occasionally singing directly to the stuffed walrus.

It was just another moment of McCartney engaging the
sea-sized Bonnaroo crowd at his June 14 performance on the What Stage. He also:
reminisced about knowing Jimi Hendrix; waved a giant Tennessee state flag around
prior to his second encore; and read aloud the handmade signs fans were holding up
in the audience.

It was more effort than someone with McCartney's catalog
needs to put into a concert.

He could just roll out his Beatles juggernauts, some solo
hits and his underrated Wings best, pick up his monarch-sized check and go use it
to purchase the world's entire supply of vegan health foods.

But that's just not McCartney's style. And who cares if the
between-song banter can get hammy at times when the songs themselves are some of the most enduring ever, regardless of idiom.

As an instrumentalist, McCartney is primarily thought of as
a bass player – and an outstanding one. But watching his two-and-a-half-hour
Bonnaroo set it was striking how much of his best work has come at the piano: "The
Long and Winding Road," Maybe I'm Amazed," "Hey Jude," "Your Mother Should
Know," "Lady Madonna." Hell, many of the addled twenty-somethings in the
audience probably couldn't even spell Beatles in their blurry state, but they sung
along to the "Let It Be" chorus like they were studio-session pros.

(McCartney would also alternately rip some Sir Solos on a
Les Paul electric guitar, fingerpick "Blackbird" to perfection and perform
George Harrison's "Something" on a ukulele – as well as laying down smart
grooves on his trademark Hofner bass.)

And, obviously, the cliched "Paul was soft and John was edgy"
Beatles analysis is completely erroneous. Besides the aforementioned "Helter
Skelter," McCartney rocked the Bonnaroo masses with a groovy "Paperback Writer"
and a winking "Day Tripper." And while all McCartney solo/Wings tracks are not
created equal "Let Me Roll It" featured Led Zeppelin-style exotic riffery and "Live
and Let Die" would have lit up the night without the gads of fireworks shot off
over the stage (and crowd) during the song's Bonnaroo airing.

Hardcore Fab Four fans got a double-dip thrill when McCartney and his killer touring band dug into two "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club" tracks never previously performed live before this tour: the dazzling "Lovely Rita" and quirky "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite."

The onstage lighting effects behind McCartney and his band varied from digital psychedelia to mountainous vistas. And throughout the show, balloon lanterns were released from behind Bonnaroo walls and floated over the audience and stage, and up into the night, like jellyfish of the sky.

At 70, McCartney's voice can be just a tad shaky at times in tenor
deployments. But when McCartney shreds his throat and howls, it still sounds brilliant and makes it easy to see why that voice has brought joy to millions and millions of people.

So what's another 80,000 or so on a balmy night in
Manchester, Tennessee?